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Greg Paulus played one year under head coach Doug Marrone after four years of basketball at Duke. Drew Allen, the transfer quarterback from Oklahoma, also has just one year of eligibility.
(Frank Ordonez | The Post-Standard)

Orchard Park, N.Y. -- Doug Marrone made a bold move in his first year as Syracuse head coach, bringing in Greg Paulus to play quarterback. Paulus, who grew up in Syracuse and starred in multiple sports at Christian Brothers Academy, came to SU after a four-year basketball career at Duke, and he had just one season of football eligibility.

Syracuse's next head coach, Scott Shafer, made a similar move by adding Oklahoma transfer quarterback Drew Allen during the spring. Allen, a highly coveted recruit out of high school, struggled to earn playing time for the Sooners and has one year of eligibility remaining after graduating in early May. He will come to Syracuse and attempt to win the starting job just like Paulus did in the summer of 2009.

Marrone, now the head coach of Buffalo in the National Football League, did not know Allen's name when asked about him by a reporter at Wednesday's organized team activity. Fewer than six months after leaving Syracuse, he has immersed himself in the culture of the NFL and does not have much time to keep up with the news at his alma mater.

But when asked to elaborate on the difficulties of a one-year quarterback, Marrone compared the process to free agency in the NFL. Marrone, who spent time in the NFL from 2002 to 2008 before taking the job at Syracuse, said the research process in advance of the decision to bring in or not bring a particular player is key.

'People in our profession with free agency, you have to do a good job of research and knowing what you want, knowing what you're going to get and knowing what you have," Marrone said. "I think when you do that, you can make good decisions on what the future holds."

Paulus led the team to a 4-8 record in his one year under center for Syracuse. He set the single-season school record for completion percentage by connecting on 67.7 percent of his passes, but he had seven games in which he threw for fewer than 150 yards.

By season's end he was splitting playing time with his successor, Ryan Nassib.